Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
In the hour I stood in front of City Hall, lit up like an American Flag to remind people that an election was in progress, not one person admitted to me that they had voted against Prop F. Some people were open about voting yes, while others very gently told me to fuck off—but no one admitted to voting no.That's perhaps not surprising. In the lead up to Tuesday's vote, Airbnb did little to endear itself to the city or its voters. The company launched a controversial campaign against Prop F that asked city residents to be grateful for the taxes short-term rentals provide for the city, implying that this revenue paid for public services like schools, trees, and libraries. (The offending ads were eventually removed.)Then there are the horror stories, such as the case of a couple who left for Burning Man only to have their house-sitter turn around and rent their residence for $400 a night. Or the Oakland Airbnb host who returned to his apartment to find holes in his walls and "meth pipes everywhere". Or the San Francisco Airbnb host who had $35,000 in valuables stolen from her apartment. The list goes on.On VICE News: Outsiders and Social Conservatives Claim Victory in Off-Year American Voting
Advertisement
But while the company doesn't exactly have the best reputation in town, it's not necessarily clear that Prop F would have made things better in the long run. In addition to requiring Airbnb to remove any listings from its site that had been occupied by short-term renters for more than 75 days (the previous limit on short-term rentals was 90 days), it also would have allowed neighbors to sue each other for violating the limit. There's a chance that this could have had the unintended consequence of allowing people with the means to unjustly punish their neighbors over petty grievances.From this standpoint, it's understandable why people may have felt uncomfortable sharing how they voted: Who wants to choose between letting the assholes win or potentially letting other assholes win, just in a different way?The closest anyone came to admitting their ambivalence on the issue was a woman named Isis. She told me she was a mother of two who had recently had to move into her father's one-room in-law unit when her rent became too high. Her children are ages 10 and 18; she's in a relationship. She, her partner, and her children share the space.Isis, who's an immigrant from El Salvador and a 30-year San Francisco resident, told me she made a promise to herself to vote when she was granted citizenship in 2000. She's kept her word for over a decade and a half. She was looking over the ballots when I approached her. She told me she knew people who used Airbnb as a legitimate way to make money, but, as a victim of the city's creeping costs, she was unsure whether it was actually any good for the community.Chill billboard, — jden (@jden415)October 22, 2015
Advertisement